Autumn Color Report: Nikko
by Scott, staff writer of japan-guide.com
This journal is a log of my travels within Japan. Here you'll find my personal opinions on the places I've been and the things I've seen. Also expect to see the occasional review and editorial. Thanks for reading.
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2012/10/16 - Autumn Color Report: Nikko
by scott
Today I made our second autumn color visit to the popular Nikko area, about two hours north of Tokyo. Its been a week since our first report from the area and since then the colors around Nikko have improved quite a bit. However, most areas are not quite at the peak just yet and should continue to improve into next week.
I arrived early in the morning in Okunikko, the national park area way up in the mountains behind the temples and shrines of Nikko Town. The colors around Konsei pass at the entrance to Okunikko were still approaching the peak. Some nice colors could be seen along the upper slopes and were starting to show along the road.
After a few minutes drive I arrived at Lake Yunoko next to Yumoto Onsen Town. The situation around the lake was a little later than at Konsei Pass. The colors are beginning to show but are not yet near their peak.
Another short drive took me to the Senjogahara Marsh, a highland marsh with a number of hiking trails that lead around the area. After parking in one of several parking lots, I hiked a little ways around the marsh to check out one of my favorite spots. Like Sean's trip last week, the highland grasses were nice shades or red and orange and right around the peak. Most of the trees in the area, however, were slightly behind and still approaching their peak. Overall it was a nice balance between the early and later changing plants with everything showing a bit of color today.
Afterwards I headed down to Ryuzunotaki waterfall to check out the colors around the falls. This area tend to be a few days ahead of the rest of Okunikko, which was quite apparent today as the trees around the falls were already nice shades of red, orange and yellow. They are not quite at the peak yet, but should be there in the next few days.
Next I drove to Lake Chuzenjiko, circled halfway around it, and then headed up the mountain behind the lake to check out the view from the Hangetsuyama Observation Point. The first stop though, was to a parking lot along the ridge that overlooks Lake Chuzenjiko. From here it was apparent that it was still quite early for the colors around the lake.
Another minute or so up the road is the trail to Hangetsuyama Observation Deck. A 20-30 minute hike takes you up the mountain to the observation deck from where you have a great, unobstructed view of the lake complete with the famous Hatchodejima Peninsula below. Today you could see some colors along the higher slopes, but as before, it still looks pretty early around the lake.
Heading back down to the lake, I took a quick stop at Kegonnotaki Waterfall. The colors around the falls are still pretty green, but they should continue to improve into next week.
Afterwards I left Okunikko and headed down the Irohazaka road to Nikko Town. It is still too early along the slope, and not many colors were visible today. It should really be nice (and crowded!) in another week or so.
The Nikko Town area is about 600 meters lower than Lake Chuzenjiko, and the autumn colors will slowly make their way down here over the next few weeks. Even so, most of the trees around the temples and shrines are evergreens, so you never really see spectacular colors around the town. The exception would be Shoyoen Garden, which is part of Rinnoji Temple and has a lot of nice maple trees planted around it. Its still early though as the garden was predominantly green today.
Fortunately, I finished up today's autumn color reporting just in time to catch the Nikko Yabusame Archery Tournament. This annual event is held every year in mid October, and features Edo Period costumed, mounted archers who shoot at wooden targets while at full gallop. Its an exciting and difficult event, and few archers are skillful enough to hit all three targets. Only 2 of 10 archers were able to today. They also occasionally fall off their horses which happened to one rider. Luckily he wasn't hurt. If you are in the area tomorrow there will be a special parade of about 1000 people dressed in period costume, including archers, soldiers and samurai.
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